Made to Crave, by Lysa Terkeurst,is not a typical diet book. It does not include eating plans, exercise regimes or recipes. Although the author strongly emphasizes these as we strive to get healthy, she takes the concept of losing weight much deeper – Terkeurst gets to the “soul” of dieting cycles and overeating.
We are Made to Crave
We’ve all experienced cravings and desires. Lysa Terkeurst believes cravings are normal, God-given experiences. She writes, “God made us capable of craving so we’d have an unquenchable desire for more of Him, and Him alone.” Terkeurst maintains that God is the only one capable of satisfying our cravings – nothing on this earth can do it.
For those of us who have been fighting the battle of dieting and weight loss, Terkeurst suggests that the missing component is a recalibration of our souls to desire spiritual, mental and physical changes.
Spiritual Malnutrition
Terkeurst introduces the concept of spiritual malnutrition. Is this the piece of the puzzle that is missing for most of us in our struggle to lose weight? Are we trying to fill our deepest desires with food rather than with a deep relationship with Jesus? The author believes this is the case, as is expressed in this book's subtitle, “satisfying your deepest desire with God, not food.”
How to Handle Cravings
Made to Crave contains many suggestions for conquering our cravings and using them to our benefit. The key is turning to God and His Word for help. We must redirect our cravings toward God.
- Turn to God to fulfill all our needs, cravings and desires. He alone is capable of doing that for us, and who is more qualified than God because He knows what is absolutely best for us?
- View our cravings as blessings, and using them to get closer to God
- When we experiencing a craving, quote from scripture to get it under control
- Call upon the Lord’s strength to defeat the desire for unhealthy foods
- When we saturate ourselves with God’s truth, we have greater power to resist our temptations
- When we experience cravings for food, use them as promptings to pray
An Opportunity to Get Closer to God
Terkeurst suggests we view our journey to get healthy as a spiritual journey. The whole reason for the journey is to know God better -- “the more we operate in the truth of who we are and the reality that we were made for more, the closer to God we’ll become.”
This whole adventure should be less about food, exercise and lifestyle choices and more about embracing a chance for deep and wonderful connections with God.
God wants us to eat healthy food, and making good eating choices is being obedient to God. He wants us to overcome the vicious cycles we’ve experienced. Physical food can never satisfy the longings of our soul. We must ask God to help us find fulfillment in our relationship with Him rather than in food.
Prayers to Help Along the Way
Throughout the book, Terkeurst describes prayers she has prayed to help her through her times of struggle. One such prayer is, “God, I recognize I am made for more than the vicious cycle of being ruled by food. I need to eat to live, not live to eat. So, I keep asking for Your wisdom to know what to eat and Your indwelling power to walk away from things that are not beneficial for me.”
Other Topics Covered in Made To Crave
Several other issues, both practical and spiritual, are addressed by Terkeurst.
- Accountability
- Self-control
- Overcoming the number on the scale
- Planning ahead
- Dealing with triggers
- Power over food choices
- Emotional eating
- Spiritual deprivation
- Why diets don’t work
- Living as an overcomer
- And a lot more
Additional Tools
- Scripture Verses -- Throughout Made To Crave, author Lysa Terkeurst quotes from the Bible. She blesses readers by providing 20 pages of scripture verses in the back of the book. These are the scriptures that she has referred to in each of the chapters. This saves us from sifting back through chapters to find the verses that speak to us.
- Healthy Eating Go-To Scripts – Two pages of concise encouragement are provided in the back of the book. They can be used as affirmations in times of temptation, when we are considering skipping our exercise, or just when we are feeling low.
- Website Resources – Lysa shares additional help on the Made To Crave website.
About Lysa Terkeurst
Lysa is the author of over a dozen books, and the cofounder of Proverbs 31 Ministries. “Her greatest passion is inspiring women to say yes to God and take part I the awesome adventure He has designed every soul to live.” She is married, and has been blessed with five children.
Your Last Diet Book
I pray this will be the last “diet” book you will ever need to read. I think the author has really nailed the cause of our struggles – spiritual malnutrition. In her easy to read writing style, Terkeurst encourages us to replace our inner emptiness with the fulfilling presence of God, and to replace our cravings for harmful food with a relationship with Jesus. In essence, if God gave us these desires, and we look to Him, He will satisfy these cravings in ways that only He can. We can finally end the battle.
Source:
Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food by Lysa Terkeurst
Zondervan, 2010
Softcover, 218 pages
ISBN::978-0-310-29326-2
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